Drainage needed to improve gravel roads

Three gravel roads in Longwarry will continue to be maintained and Baw Baw Shire will investigate drainage works that may improve the condition of the roads.

Council received a petition signed by 26 people calling on council to address the poor road surface condition of Johnston St, Newell Rd and James Rd.

The petitioners asked council to maintain the three roads at a higher level of maintenance that is currently undertaken and outlined in its road management plan.

They suggested the finished surface of the road be raised 200 to 300mm to assist in the drainage of these roads. The roads are between 4.7 and five metres wide.

A report to council said Johnston St, Jones Rd and Newell Rd were classed as local roads. The abutting land is predominantly large agricultural properties and houses are well set back off the road.

Routine maintenance activities occur following a cyclic or reactive inspection. Grading on Johnson St and James Rd was last undertaken in November 2016. Newell Rd was last graded including roadside drainage in May this year.

“These roads are located in an area that is subject to inundation with many of the roadside and catchment drains under the responsibility of Melbourne Water.

“Where council officers have determined that lack of maintenance of drains under the responsibility of other authorities are directly impacting council assets, drain clearing works have been undertaken utilising the roadside drains and flanking program budget.

“Preliminary investigations have concluded that maintenance works including clearing vegetation from theses drains would assist in the long term sustainability of the road network in this area,” the council report said.

Officers said lifting the surface level of Johnston St by 200 to 300mm was not considered practical at this time. Carrying out the necessary drainage maintenance works will provide a more sustainable outcome.

The estimated cost of drainage outfall works to assist are in the order of $80,000 to $100,000 pending detailed onsite investigations.

Ongoing maintenance of drains include spraying of regrowth (annually) and desilting after a period of time. The estimated maintenance costs would be about $5000 annually.

Cr Jessica O’Donnell said Johnson St was in such bad repair that residents were having issues with their cars.

“A review of our current maintenance levels is terribly important. I certainly support any works that are done to address the damage on these roads,” she said.

Cr Keith Cook said there were seven gravel streets in Longwarry. “Is there any other town in Victoria that has seven gravel streets and some of those have seven or eight houses on them, they aren’t bare streets.”

Cr Cook said given they were still gravel streets, it was not much use him asking for money for footpaths.

Cr Darren Wallace said this was part of a broader conversation because Longwarry also had drainage issues.

“We need detailed investigations before any drainage works can commence.

“Johnson St is in a very poor state. The other two streets have had fixes and are in fair condition,” he said.